CHESS GRANDMASTER TIMUR GAREYEV BREAKS GUINNESS™ WORLD RECORD

Chess grandmaster Timur Gareyev, also known as the BLINDFOLD KING, officially breaks the Guinness™ World Record for Blindfold Chess Simultaneous Chess wins playing 48

Las Vegas, CA, December 3-4, 2016 – US-based grandmaster Timur Gareyev (b. UZB) played 48 opponents while blindfolded at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The simultaneous match lasted for 19 hours 9 minutes (including a half-hour interruption caused by a fire alarm) and ended with Gareyev – who rode an exercise bicycle throughout – winning 35 games, drawing seven and losing six for a win percentage of 80.2%. Gareyev eclipsed the mark of 46, achieved by German Master Marc Lang in Sontheim-an-der-Brenze, Germany, on 27 November 2011.

In blindfold chess matches, the player is told what move his opponent has just made, but has no ability to go back and see what they did before. This means that the player has to keep a mental image of the board, complete with the position of every piece, in order to make sound tactical decisions. Multiple simultaneous games represent an immensely difficult test of memory and skill.

One of Gareyev's online opponents was 92-year-old Luciano de Nilo Andrade, who had also been one of Miguel Najdorf's opponents when the Polish-Argentine grandmaster had set the long-standing blindfold record of 45 on 21 January 1947.

About GM Timur Gareyev (Blindfold King)

Timur Gareyev is a chess grandmaster originally from Uzbekistan. He has held the rank of 3rd highest rated chess player in the US and top 100 players in the world with a peak USCF rating of 2780. He is best known for his exceptional ability to play blindfold chess.

www.timurgareyev.com